In the space of just over a decade, the Internet, because it provides access to information, and the ability to publish information, in revolutionary ways, has emerged from relative obscurity to international prominence. Whereas, in general, an internet is a network of networks, the Internet is a global collection of interconnected local, mid-level, and wide-area networks that use the Internet Protocol (IP) as the network layer protocol. Whereas the Internet embraces many local- and wide-area networks, a given local- or wide-area network may or may not form part of the Internet.
As the Internet and its underlying technologies have become increasingly familiar, attention has become focused on Internet security and computer network security in general. With unprecedented access to information has also come unprecedented opportunities to gain unauthorized access to data, change data, destroy data, make unauthorized use of computer resources, interfere with the intended use of computer resources, etc. These opportunities have been exploited time and time again by many types of malware including, but is not limited to computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, etc. As experience has shown, the frontier of cyberspace has its share of scofflaws, resulting in increased efforts to protect the data, resources, and reputations of those embracing intranets and the Internet.
To combat the potential risks associated with network usage, numerous security tools have been developed such as firewalls, intrusion prevention systems (IPSs), virus scanners, etc. To date, however, such tools are typically packaged for either individual or enterprise use. In the context of enterprise use, the foregoing tools are typically packaged for employment by large corporations, without the ability to tailor and/or select security policies on a group-by-group/user-by-user basis.
There is thus a need for overcoming these and/or other problems associated with the prior art.